Friday, August 1, 2008

The Roster Battle - prologue

The goalie in the picture is Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, or I should say it was. These days he's just Jeff Deslauriers and he's not sporting the Edmonton Road Runners gear anymore either. I actually still like those sweaters though... not the logo but the colour scheme worked for me.

Anyway, the reason I slapped ol'JDD up here is because he's one of the guys who could very well have an impact on which forwards make the Oilers out of camp. Or maybe more accurately, how many forwards make it. Let me explain.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to talk about the battle over the last couple roster spots as training camp is now about 45 days away.

First I want to remind you that of the 23-man roster there is the very real possibility that the Oilers could have 3 goalies and 8 blueliners, although in that case they'd likely consider Jason Strudwick the 13th forward. Casual fans might forget that Jeff Deslauriers and Mathieu Roy are both in the situation where they would need to clear waivers to get to Springfield in the AHL. Both might pass through unclaimed... but it's a risk and no team wants to just give away assets. It's easier to sneak someone through waivers early in the season - see Patrick Thoresen last year who made it through before Christmas but was scooped up by Philly in the second half.

Unless the Oilers (1) find a taker for Dwayne Roloson's contract either through trade or waivers or (2) try and push JDD back through waivers to the farm... Edmonton will have 3 goalies.

For the sake of argument, let's say they do manage one of the above and also find a way to only carry 7 defenders leaving room for 4 full sets of forwards and the normal 13th and 14th pressbox spots up front.

In my opinion, so is Marc Pouliot and his nice new, bargain basement contract. He'd need to clear waivers to go down (and he wouldn't make it through anymore) and really, you need cheap forwards to round out your bottom 6 so Pouliot... at the very least has a spot waiting for him to claim outright in camp - not the first time he's had that and failed but this year waivers are on his side.

The last 2 spots (if they aren't claimed by the 8th D-man and 3rd goalie) are up for grabs and in my mind it's a 5-man battle. 5 different players; different ages, different talents, strengths and weaknesses, different contract situations and different expectations.

The Fan Favorite, The New Guy, The Wild Card, The Forgotten One and the Underdog.

In the CBA, section 50.9(g) it deals with recall waivers. It has an exception for "Veteran Minor League Players".

For goalies, this is defined as a player with 180+ games of pro (NHL + AHL + ECHL) experience, and less than 40 NHL games experience the prior year (or 80 in the prior 2 years).Couting up all his stops in Greenville/Hamilton/Roadrunners/Stocton/Wilkes-Barre/Springfiend (good lord), he has something like 139 pro games.

Visit

Athlete Representation

In Their Words...

"You guys run a good show. It's nice with this particular show to get caught up on what's going on with the draft. The future players coming down the pipe are where our hopes and our future is..."- Kevin Lowe (Oilers President), Jan. 29th, 2007

"It's great to talk to Canadians about a U.S. College program"- Red Berenson (Michigan Wolverines head coach), Jan. 15th, 2007

"Love your show and I think it's fantastic. I wish there were more people who dug into the game at this level."- Peter Loubardias (CHL Broadcaster), May 27, 2008

"Thanks for the coverage of the 2008 WJAC tournament. Your site is where all of us down here went to get analysis."- Brad Elliot Schlossman (Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota USA) Nov. 10, 2008

"Follow the best junior/college hockey radio show in the country, the Pipeline Show with Dean Millard and Guy Flaming."- Hall of Fame Writer Jim Matheson (Edmonton Journal) via Twitter June 6th, 2011

"It blows me away that I'm talking to a couple of guys in Edmonton about NCAA hockey. I don't talk to people down here in the States that are as in tune to it as you are. I can't believe how impressed I am by how much you knew about our program!" - Frank Serratore (Air Force Head Coach) August 18, 2009"A lot of fans aren't privy to your in-depth knowledge of junior hockey... it's always fun [to be a guest] because you guys know the game."- E.J. McGuire (Director of NHL Central Scouting) November 24, 2009"Outstanding program... I listen to every show"- Jeff Marek (HNIC) via Twitter May 18, 2012